Individual recognition in a wild cooperative mammal using contact calls

Sharpe, Lynda L.; Hill, Amy; Cherry, Michael

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.07.023

Cited by 45 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Groups are normally composed of an alpha pair (which largely monopolizes breeding), their adult offspring and one or two immigrant males (Rood, 1990). There are strong, intrasexual, linear dominance hierarchies within groups (Sharpe, Hill, & Cherry, 2013). Females queue for the alpha position within their natal group, although they occasionally disperse to establish new groups (they cannot join established groups that contain more than one female; Rood, 1986).…”

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confidence: 99%

Handstand scent marking: height matters to dwarf mongooses

Sharpe

2015

Animal Behaviour

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confidence: 99%

Handstand scent marking: height matters to dwarf mongooses

Sharpe

2015

Animal Behaviour

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“…Although the level of correct classification for all three calls types was relatively low when compared to that of other studies (Briseño‐Jaramillo, Estrada, & Lemasson, ; Collins et al., ; Gillam & Chaverri, ; Leliveld et al., ), the PIC values were comparatively high (e.g., Bouchet et al., ; Salmi, Hammerschmidt, & Doran‐Sheehy, ). Previous research has shown that dwarf mongooses are capable of discriminating between individuals for each of the three call types (Kern & Radford, ; Rubow et al., ; Sharpe et al., ), suggesting that high levels of call individuality are not a necessity for individual recognition and discrimination. For example, although banded mongoose escort contact calls achieved low correct classification percentages, the acoustic distinction was sufficient to allow mongoose pups to discriminate between individual callers (Müller & Manser, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…In white‐faced capuchins ( Cebus capucinus ), for example, group members respond to the lost calls of dominants more often than to the calls of subordinate individuals (Digweed, Fedigan, & Rendall, ). Dwarf mongooses are likely to show a similar bias toward dominant individuals because they do so in other contexts (Kern et al., ; Sharpe et al., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We assess one shortrange, intragroup social call (the "contact call"), one predator warning call (the "snake call", which also has a recruitment function) and one long-distance call used when a mongoose becomes separated from its group (the "isolation call"). Previous experimental work has demonstrated that dwarf mongooses discern and differentiate between individual callers for all three vocalizations Rubow, Cherry, & Sharpe, 2017a;Sharpe, Hill, & Cherry, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

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A comparison of individual distinctiveness in three vocalizations of the dwarf mongoose (Helogale parvula)

2017

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Individual specificity can be found in the vocalizations of many avian and mammalian species. However, it is often difficult to determine whether these vocal cues to identity rise from "unselected" individual differences in vocal morphology or whether they have been accentuated by selection for the purposes of advertising caller identity. By comparing the level of acoustic individuality of different vocalizations within the repertoire of a single species, it is possible to ascertain whether selection for individual recognition has modified the vocal cues to identity in particular contexts. We used discriminant function analyses to determine the level of accuracy with which calls could be classified to the correct individual caller, for three dwarf mongoose (Helogale parvula) vocalizations: contact, snake, and isolation calls. These calls were similar in acoustic structure but divergent in context and function. We found that all three call types showed individual specificity but levels varied with call type (increasing from snake to contact to isolation call). The individual distinctiveness of each call type appeared to be directly related to the degree of benefit that signalers were likely to accrue from advertising their identity within that call context. We conclude that dwarf mongoose signalers have undergone selection to facilitate vocal individual recognition, particularly in relation to the species' isolation call. K E Y W O R D Sacoustic analysis, contact calls, dwarf mongoose, Helogale parvula, individual specificity, isolation calls, snake calls

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“…There is accumulating evidence that contact calls can be used for individual recognition (Sharpe et al 2013), which is a critical precondition for successfully navigating a large and complex social landscape (Pollard and Blumstein 2012; Tibbetts and Dale 2007). Rhinopithecus roxellana lives in large and multilevel societies composed of several socio-spatially distinct units (Qi et al 2014, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individuality in coo calls of adult male golden snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana) living in a multilevel society

et al. 2018

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Vocal individuality is a prerequisite for individual recognition, especially when visual and chemical cues are not available or effective. Vocalizations encoding information of individual identity have been reported in many social animals and should be particularly adaptive for species living in large and complexly organized societies. Here, we examined the individuality in coo calls of adult male golden snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana) living in a large and multilevel society. Coo calls are one of the most frequently occurring call types in R. roxellana and likely serve as the signals for contact maintenance or advertisement in various contexts including group movement, foraging, and resting. From April to October 2016, April to July 2017, and September to October 2017, we recorded a total of 721 coo calls from six adult males in a provisioned, free-ranging group and one adult male in captivity in Shennongjia National Park, China. We selected 162 high-quality recordings to extract 14 acoustic parameters based on the source-filter theory. Results showed that each of all parameters significantly differed among individuals, while pairwise comparisons failed to detect any parameter that was different between all pairs. Furthermore, a discriminant function analysis indicated that the correct assignment rate was 80.2% (cross-validation: 67.3%), greater than expected by chance (14.3%). In conclusion, we found evidence that coo calls of adult male R. roxellana allowed the reliable accuracy of individual discrimination complementarily enhanced by multiple acoustic parameters. The results of our study point to the selective pressures acting on individual discrimination via vocal signals in a highly gregarious forest-living primate.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s10071-018-1222-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Individual recognition in a wild cooperative mammal using contact calls

Cited by 45 publications

References 49 publications

Handstand scent marking: height matters to dwarf mongooses

Handstand scent marking: height matters to dwarf mongooses

A comparison of individual distinctiveness in three vocalizations of the dwarf mongoose (Helogale parvula)

Individuality in coo calls of adult male golden snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana) living in a multilevel society

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